Kylie Jenner sends Snap stock tumbling with a tweet

The company's stock dropped 8%, at one point wiping nearly $1.5 billion from the company's market value.

Author:
Eli Blumenthal, USA TODAY

Published:
1:48 AM EST February 23, 2018

Updated:
1:48 AM EST February 23, 2018

The Kardashian-Jenner brand isn't just strong in reality television. It also seems to be powerful in the world of finance.

A tweet sent by Kylie Jenner Wednesday afternoon criticizing the popular social network has sent the company's stock tumbling Thursday, resulting in the loss of nearly $1 billion in market value.

"Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad," Jenner tweeted at 4:50 p.m. ET Wednesday, bemoaning the company's recent redesign that has angered a number of users.

sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad.

The company's stock dropped 8%, at one point wiping nearly $1.5 billion from the company's market value.

A late rally has since helped lessen the blow with the company closing Thursday down just over 6%, a drop of over $850 million in value.

Jenner is far from the first person to criticize the social network after it began rolling out its redesigned app over the past few weeks.

A Change.org petition garnered 1.2 million online signatures and even a response from the company that in essence said that the redesign was here to stay. Some users have even been sharing tweets and Instagram posts online with of a step-by-step "hack" on how to force the iOS App Store to download the old design, even if the solution is only temporary.

In response to the continued backlash to the update, CNBC reports that Citigroup downgraded the stock to a sell rating in a note sent out to clients on Tuesday.

But with 24.5 million followers on Twitter, 104 million followers on Instagram and a robust presence on Snapchat, few have the platform or influence Jenner has with the target demographic Snapchat relies on.

Jenner's initial tweet on Snapchat has picked up over 45,000 retweets and over 255,000 "likes."

As for whether she will leave the platform, that remains to be seen. A subsequent tweet makes it seem the reality star isn't done with it just yet.